National 3 (Spotlight Weekly)

Dismal Show

There are varying reports of Nepalese athletes missing in Busan, as the country continues to fare badly in the games

By A CORRESPONDENT

News agencies reported that eight to 11 Nepalese athletes went missing last week. Then there were reports that these "missing" athletes were found by the police in Busan. The missing athletes reportedly have not contacted Nepalese sports authorities.

The Busan Asian Games is turning out to be quite a nightmare for Nepal. Even before the athletes had left for the South Korean city, analysts had predicted a dreary outcome. With the country's attention diverted to political bickering and violent insurgency, the government had not allocated enough resources to train the athletes for the games. It was in the 11th hour that the government sanctioned a Rs.2 million budget to send the athletes to Busan.

As such, medal prospects were already low. But adding to the woes, nearly a dozen Nepalese athletes went missing last week. The news dealt a big blow to the morale of rest of the Nepalese squad who continued to fare badly in the games.

The Nepalese squad left for the 14th Asian Games in Busan with little expectations of bringing any glory to the nation. The Nepalese are taking part in 10 out of 30 disciplines included in the quadrennial sports extravaganza. The games they will participate include golf, judo, karate, boxing, athletics, weightlifting, taekwondo, swimming, shooting and soft tennis.

Given the record in past games, Nepalese are expected to compete well in events like karate, taekwondo and judo. Boxing also held some promise. Unfortunately, it has been reported that among the missing Nepalese athletes about seven were boxers.

The officials of the Nepal Sports Council (NSC) still hope that Nepalese players would bring medals in taekwondo. Their expectation rests on Nepal's superb performance in the discipline in the last Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand. Sabita Rajbhandari had won a silver medal then. "We had sent our taekwondo team to South Korea for training well before the games. We expect them to perform well," said Binod Shankar Palikhe, member secretary of the NSC.

Nepal has been taking part in the Asian Games since their inception in 1951. It had participated in all the tournaments except the second games held in Philippines in 1955. It was in 1988 that Nepalese athletes succeeded to win medals for the first time in the games. They won eight bronze medals in Seoul Asian Games in 1988.

Although the Nepalese people are not expecting much from their players in the current Busan tournament, they would be deeply disappointed if the reports of Nepalese athletes missing turn out to be true. Such incidents will only serve to damage the reputation of the country at the international level.